A form of collapsible shopping cart which has become widely used in recent years is a cart of the type having a rectangular, collapsible basket portion including wheels mounted on an axle adjacent the lower edge of the back of the basket, and having a U-shaped frame portion including a handle and legs which legs support the front of the basket when in use. The front and back of the basket are usually of wire lattice, and are connected together by a bottom pivoted to their lower edges and by side ribs (usually wires) pivoted to their side margins, so that the basket can be folded from an open condition to a collapsed condition with the front and back remaining parallel to each other and with the side ribs and bottom providing parallel links between the front and back to give a parallelogram form of folding. The handle of the frame portion straddles the basket, and the legs are pivoted to opposite sides of the basket adjacent the top of the back and have lower portions located by guide members extending from the lower frontal area of the basket, the legs including stop means for supporting the basket front in its open condition. This type of cart will herein be referred to as a cart "of the type described".
Typical carts of this general type are shown in the following patents: Canadian Patent No. 617,909 issued Apr. 11, 1961 to Berlin; U.S. Pat. No. 2,920,900 issued Jan. 12, 1960 to Best; U.S. Pat. No. 2,967,060 issued Jan. 3, 1961 to Berlin; U.S. Pat. No. 3,207,526 issued Sept. 21, 1965 to Brodeck; U.S. Pat. No. 3,514,123 issued May 26, 1970 to Injeski; U.S. Pat. No. 3,640,547 issued Feb. 8, 1972 to Friedman.
Carts of this general type may be made in various sizes. Large carts of this kind may have two additional wheels attached to the lower ends of the lege. All carts of this general mechanical design will be referred to as "shopping carts" herein even if intended to be used for purposes other than shopping.
A feature of many carts of this kind is that when folded the lower ends of the legs serve to raise the wheels clear of the ground so that the cart can be stored in near vertical position without tending to move on its wheels.
Carts of the type described are generally restricted to loads which will fit within the basket. A larger load may be balanced on top of the basket but this gives an unstable arrangement if the load is at all heavy.
The object of this invention is to provide a cart of the type described which, in addition to having the useful feature of the known carts, can also be used to carry large and heavy loads which either will not fit within the basket or which can only be placed therein with difficulty.